Rotary printing apparatus



Jan. 15, 1935. H. P. ELLIOTT ROTARY PRINTING APPARATUS Filed June 1 19352 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR 6 0/7720 f/bb/t ATTORNEY 2 Sfieets-Sheet 2INVENTOR Harmon P. E///'0if.

N .L R

ATTORNEY Jan. 15, 1935.

H. P. ELLIOTT ROTARY PRINTING APPARATUS Filed June 16, 1935 PatentedJan. 15, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ROTARY PRINTING APPARATUSHarmon P. Elliott, Watertown, Mass, assignor to The Elliott AddressingMachine Company, a corporation of Massachusetts Application June 16,1933, Serial No. mates 18 Claims.

eration and certainty of thedischarge from the printing zone of thepostcards or other articles printed therein.

In ,the said patent certain rotary friction wheels 36, 36, are shown onwhich the printed articles rest as they leave the printing zone, and

by the action of which the continued movement of said articlesintoanyproper receptacle is ensured, and preferably accelerated, but in saidpatent such friction wheels are shown as being continuously geared totheprinting mechanism. To produce a satisfactory discharge action suchfriction wheels had to be geared to run at a higher rate of.circumferential speed than that at which the printing members rotated,and this involved the expenditure of considerable power, which had to beexerted continuously, whereas it was only. needed during a fraction ofeach cycle of operation, i. e. for a short time .25 after each printingoperation hadv been completed, or nearly completed. Also theconstruction of such gearing added to the original cost. In the presentinvention a simple, practically frictionless driving connection betweenthe .30 printing mechanism and such friction wheels has. beensubstituted for the chain and sprockets shown in the patent, and onewhich comes into operation only during the short period of time whensuch discharge action is required.

Other features of the present invention relate more particularly to themessage printing operations of the machine, in which a large flexiblestencil held in a metal carrier is rapidly reciprocated back and forthin the printing zone. The mechanism employed in said patented apparatusfor this purpose proved rather noisy as a result of the shuttle-likemovement of the carrier, and I have now devised certain modi- 5 fiedforms of mechanism for causing its reciprocation which are more nearlynoiseless in operation.

The best forms of apparatus at present known to me embodying theseseveral improve- I ments are illustrated in theaccompanying two sheetsof drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the delivery end ofa printing apparatus such as shown in my above noted patent with oneembodiment of the present invention applied thereto.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same with parts broken away.

Fig. 3 is a detailed side elevation of a portion of the controllingdevice for the reciprocating parts, on an enlarged scale. 5

Fig. 4 is a detail section on line 44 of Fig.

1, on an enlarged scale.

Fig.5 is a plan view, with parts broken away and others shown insection, of a modified form of the controlling device for thereciprocating 10 mechanism, and

; Fig. 6 isa side elevation of the same.

Fig. 7 is a cross-section on line 7-7 of Fig.

5, on an enlarged scale;

Throughout the drawings like reference char- -15 aoters. indicate, likeparts.

' Referring'to Figs." 1, 2 and 3, the parts of the printing apparatustherein shown, which are the same, as or similar to corresponding partsshown :in my above noted patent, comprise a main mounted on shaft 2which can be rotated by the hand crank Land platen 5 is mounted on theshaft 55, both said shafts being journalled in the main frame .51 or inthe housing 67 carried thereby. The apparatus above described is shownas arranged to print a message or other printed matter or design on eachof a series of postcards 21 by cooperation with the large flexiblestencil 7 held in the carrier 8 which slides in grooves in'the guides 9and 99 (the second guide 99 being shown in Fig. 5). The postcards 21 arefed by any desired means along any suitable guides, one of which isshown at 22, Fig. 1, to the printing zone, and during and after theprinting operations are discharged by the revoluble printing means 3.and 5 onto the rotating friction I discharge wheels or ejector members36, 36, which are fast on the revoluble shaft 61 journalled in the mainframe. 1 Inmy: above noted patent said discharge wheels 36 arecontinuously rotated by a chain 5, and this of course consumesconsiderable pow- -5 er which is being expended continuously, betweenthe discharge operations on successive cards as well as during each suchoperation. Even with the high speed gearing there shown, however, thenecessary speed of ejection of the card 21 is not always obtained, andone object of the present invention is to overcome this difficulty andalso to reduce the amount of power consumed, as well as to simplify andcheapen the construction.

For obtaining the above outlined objects I substitute for the continuousgearing from the said platen an intermittently acting propulsionmechanism for the ejector means 36, 36, the preferred form of whichcomprises a circumferential band or tire 63 for the rotor member 62mounted on the shaft 61.0ffset laterally from the ejector means 36 andoutside 'of the path of the cards or envelopes 21, and give said rotor abrief but vigorous impulse of rotation by means of a finger 31projecting radially from the sector shaft 2, and preferably having asharpened end which is spaced away from the axis of shaft 2 sufficientlyto cause it to engage the soft elastic material 63 on rotor 62 during abrief portion only of each cycle of printing operations, thereby givingthe rotor a vigorous kick which will spin it long enough to eject theparticular card 21 then resting on it. As the finger 31 is considerablylonger than the radius of the curved surface of sector 3, its speed ofmovement is considerably in excess of that of said sector surface, andaccordingly the rotor 62 (and the ejector wheels 36 of substantially thesame diameter) will be given a circumferential speed considerably inexcess of the rate of movement of the postcard coming from the printingzone. Consequently each such card will be discharged rapidly, and beforethe succeeding card is grasped by the rotating printing means and itsprinting and discharge movements thereby begun.

This rapidity of motion transmitted to rotor 62 is further increased byhinging the finger 31 on pivot 32 offset radially from the shaft'2, andthen employing the coil spring 33, one end of which is anchored on thefinger while the other is anchored on the crank lug 30 carried by shaft2. A stop 34 is carried by crank lug 30 and preferably is made ofslightly yielding material to avoid noise, and provides a motionlimiting engagement when and while finger 31 is forced against it andheld in such engagement by action of spring 33. In designing thismechanism the finger 31 should be made of a length such that its tip isspaced away from the axis of shaft 2, when the parts are in the normalposition shown in Fig. 1, by a distance somewhat in excess of that fromthe axis of such shaft to the surface of the rotor 62 along a straightline joining the axes of said shaft and rotor. This causes a slightbending of the knee joint, formed by finger 31 and lug 3O pivotedtogether at 32, during the first portion of the engagement of the fingerwith rotor 62 and then, after the pivot 32 has passed far enough beyondthe straight line joining the axes of shafts 2 and 61 to permit thisknee joint to begin straightening out, the spring 33 gives a quick snapaction of finger 31 back against the stop 34, which produces aconsiderably further acceleration of the impulse of rotation being givento the rotor 62, thereby producing an increased rapidity of ejectoraction on the card 21 then resting on the wheels 36, 36.

The stencil carrier 8 in all forms of apparatus of the type shown in myabove noted patent is constantly reciprocated during the messageprinting operation part way through the printing zone between therevoluble printing means and then back again to the initial positionshown in Fig. 2. As the return of the stencil carrier to this positionwhen released by reason of the rotating sector 3 letting go of it at theclose of the printing operation must be very rapid if a single spring isemployed for producing it as shown in my said patent, said spring mustbe of considerable strength, with the result that the metallic carrier 8comes back against the fixed stop necessarily provided for it with aconsiderable shock which produces an objectionable noise rapidlyrepeated during all the shuttlelike action of the message stencil, andthe second feature of the present invention embodies modified mechanismfor avoiding this continuously increasing rapidity of the return motionof the carrier as it travels backward under the continuous urge of asingle sufi'iciently strong spring and the shock and noise produced byits abrupt stoppage by contact with the fixed stop when at the maximumof such speed.

In the arrangement shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the above stated result isobtained by dividing the production of the carrier returning forcebetween two springs, one being the original tension spring 10 anchoredat 11 and connected at the other end to the retracting finger slide 12,which, as shown in my said patent, reciprocates upon a guide rod 13anchored on the main frame, and has a laterally projecting finger 14overhanging the edge of the stencil carrier 8 and engaged by theupwardly projecting lug on said carrier, and the other being acompression spring 40 also mounted on said rod 13 and confined by theblock 41 slidable on the rod and held in adjustable position thereon bysetscrew 44. The result of this arrangement is that said tension spring10 may be much weaker than when it was required to do the entire work ofreturning carrier 8, and that consequently while during the last portionof the forward travel of the message stencil, and at the moment of itsreversal of motion when released by sector 3, it receives for its returnmovement the sum of the impulses contributed by the compression ofspring 40 and the extreme extension of the tension spring 10, so that itstarts on its return trip at a high speed, it soon thereafter isrelieved from the direct push of the compression spring 40 and continuesonly by reason of its own momentum and of the decreasing pull of theweak tension spring 10. As a result its speed during the latter part ofits return motion is somewhat reduced (or at least is not accelerated)and the shock with which the finger slide 12 strikes the rubber stop 1'7(Fig. 3) is greatly reduced.

Also such shock is further reduced by means of the bent spring 43anchored on the base 101 of the stencil magazine 50, the upwardlyinclined outer end of which is struck by the lug 42 on the finger slide12. Said spring 43 and lug 42 also serve the useful purpose of forming aspring latch after lug 42 has passed under the bent end of spring 43,which positively holds the finger back in extreme righthand position sothat the stencil '7 is in correct registry for the repetition of theprinting operation. To reduce the shock and noise in the mannerpreviously described by reducing the strength of the spring 10 theeffective pull of the latter .when completely contracted at theexpiration of the return movement of the stencil may have been soreduced that unless some such spring latch construction is employed theslide12 may rebound slightly after striking the rubber stop 17, and soleave the stencil 7 out of registry for the next printing operation. Theguide rod 13 is rigidly supported at the lefthandend on guide 9 by thelug 35, and at the righthand end it is screwed into the magazine base101, as best shown in Fig. 3.

The last above described apparatus materially reduces the shock andnoise resulting from the shuttle-like action of the stencil carrier, butthese may be still further reduced by omitting spring 10 altogether andemploying an aircushion stop of the type illustrated in Figs. 5 to 7,the compressor spring (there marked 98) being made stronger so as to doall the work of returning the stencil to initial position. In thisconstruction, the upwardly projecting lug 15 on the stencil carrier 8 isengaged by thehook 28 on the end of piston rod 95 which extendsv frompiston 94 reciprocating in cylinder 93, which is preferably pivotallymounted on stencil guide 9 by means of the pivot pin 24 projecting frombase plate 23 on which cylinder 93 is mounted, said pivot pin being heldin engagement with guide 9 by thumbnut 25.

Cylinder 93 has a stufling box 97 on its righthand end through whichpiston rod 95.reciprocates, and'16 is a stop member carried by thepiston and cooperating with the buffer disk 88 in that end of thecylinder, and also serving to connect piston rod 95 with piston 94. Arearwardly extending piston rod 96 passes through the lefthand, open endof cylinder .93 and through a fixed guide 28. A compression spring 98 ismounted on extension piston rod 96 and compressed between guide 28 andpiston 94. The piston 94, preferably having a packing leather of theusual lip or U-shaped cross section, permits air to pass around it intothe closed end of cylinder 93 when the stencil is pulled to the left bythe revoluble printing members '3 and 5, thus pushing said piston alsoto the left by means of the piston rod 95. When the stencil carrier 8 isreleased by continued rotation of the sector 3 spring 98 expands anddrives the piston and the stencil back to the right, to the lattersinitial position, ready for a repetition of the printing operations.During the first portion of this return motion the parts move quiterapidly because of the extreme degree of compression of spring 98 andthe free expulsion of air in the righthand, closed end of cylinder 93through a port 87. When however the return movement of the stencil hasbeen nearly accomplished a valve 89, carried by piston 94, closes port87, and thereafter the air trapped in the closed cylinder end can onlyescape slowly through the stuffing box 97 or around piston 94, with. the

result that the return movement of .the stencil in which said rotor isprovided with a friction 7 is gradually and noiselesslychecked until itcomes to final rest when the piston extension 0 stop 16 reaches thebuffer 88. i

I have shown the connection between the piston rod 95 and the stencilcarrier 8 in theform of the hook 28 engaging the lug 15, and in order tomaintain the engagement of the lug by this hook I employ a fixed spring27 bearing on cylinder 93 and normally tending to swing it in acounterclockwise direction (looking at Fig. 5). As cylinder 93 ispivoted on, the guide 9 this pivotal mounting is somewhat oifset fromthe line of travel of lug l5 and the constantly varying angularity ofpiston rod 95 will cause the cylinder 93 to oscillate slightly on itspivot 94 during each operation, but the flexibility 0fspring'27 permitsthis while maintaining the engagement of hook 28 with the lug 15 asabove described. 26, 26, are stop pins mounted on the corners of theswinging bed plate 23 and limiting its motion within predeterminedbounds in case hook 28 should jump out of engagement with lug 15.

Other slightly flexible connections between piston rod 95 and stencilcarrier 8 might be substituted for the lug 15 and hook 28 looselyengaging said lug above described.

Obviously the ejector device hereinbefore described will discharge theprinted cards or envelopes or..sheets' of paper rapidly and surely, thusgetting them out of the path of the next article which is being printed,and so preventing any clogging of this portion of the apparatus on thedischarge side of the printing zone, but the total power consumed insuch ejecting operation during each printing cycle will be small. ,Alsoit will be seen that the various forms of the device here shown forlessening the shock heretofore created in suddenly stopping thereciprocating stencil after it has been snapped back intoits position ofintermittent,

brief rest, will reduce the noise of that operation. -:Especially isthis true of the air cushion form shownin Figs. 5 to 7.

. Various changes could, of course, be made in the detailsofconstruction heredisclosed without departing fromth'e underlyingprinciples of the invention, so long as the same mode of operationissubstantially preserved, and the same result obtained inwhole or insubstantial part.

Having described my invention, I claim: 1.' In a printing apparatuscomprising oppositely revoluble printing members, one of which carriesink, and between which articles to be printed may befed, thecombination, with said above described apparatus, of a rotary ejectormember journalled on the discharge side of said printing members andprovided with a rotor located at one side of said ejector member andoutside of the path of the articles being printed, together with afinger connected to one of said printing members having, a lengthsufiicient to cause it to engage said rotor during a portion of eachrevolution of said finger; whereby said ejector member is rotated byintermittent impulses.

2. A combination such as defined in claim 1 in which said fingerprojects beyond the circumferential surface of the printing element towhich it is connected and is longer than the radius of rotation of thesurface of the rotor member-with which said finger engages; whereby aspeed of rotation is given said rotor greater than that of said printingmember. v

3. A combination such as defined in claim 1 producing surface with whichthe extremity of said finger engages at a predetermined point in eachrevolution of the latter.

4. A combination'such as defined in claim 1 in which said rotor isprovided with a friction producing surface with which the extremity ofsaid finger engages at a predetermined point in each revolution of thelatter, said friction producing surface consisting of a circumferentialband o'fyielding material, and said finger ex--' tremity being sharpenedso as to slightly embed itself insaid material during, the period of itsengagementtherewith.

5. A combination such as defined in claim 1 in which the connectionbetween said finger and printing member is hinged and spring controlled.r

6. A combination such as defined in claim 1 in which the connectionbetween said finger and printing member is hinged and spring controlled,the axis of said hingebeing offset from the axis of said member. I

7. In a printing apparatus comprising oppositely revoluble printing.members, one of which carries ink, and wbetween. which articles to beprinted may be fed, the combination, with said above describedapparatus, .of a rotary ejector member journalledon the discharge sideof said printing members and-below the path of the printed articles,said ejector member being provided with a rotoroifset laterallytherefrom far enough to be outside of the path of the printed articles,together with a finger having a hinged connection to the printing memberwhich is located above said path of the printed articles, a stopmemberyrigidly mounted on said printing member, and a springnormallyforcingsaid finger toward said stop member, said fingerrevolving in the plane of saidrotorand being long enough to engage thelatter when it is held against said stopby said spring.

8. A combination'such as defined .in claim '7 in which said rotor has acircumferential surface of yielding material and 'said finger has asharpened extremity; whereby said finger. extremity may slightly embeditself. in said yielding material when forced into contact therewith.

9. In a rotary printingapparatus comprising a pair of. revolubleprinting members, one of which iscut away along an arc of its. surface,means for revolving said. members in opposite directions, astenoil,..and guides. along which said stencil may be reciprocatedbetween said members, a reciprocable. device, means for confining thereciprocation of said device to a line substantially parallel to saidguides,.mechanism for causing said device. to:move synchronously withsaid stencil, and aspring'for pulling said reciprocable device backalongsaid guides whenever the stencil. is released by such printing membersafter each printing operation, the combination, with said abovedescribed apparatus of a compression spring anchored relatively to saidguides and located in the path of travel of said device while it ismoving with said stencil during a printing operation; whereby saidspring is 'compressed at the. completion of such printing operation andon release of the stencil by further rotation of said printing members,expands to drive said reciprocable device and stencil back towards theirinitial positions in which they are ready'for a repetition of suchprinting operation.

10. An apparatus such as'defined in claim 9 in which said reciprocabledevice completes a portion of its travel before engaging said lastmentioned spring, and in whichsaid first mentioned spring is weaker thanis said last mentioned spring, and is so connected to said device as tobe flexed during all portions of the latters reciprocation.

11. An apparatus such as defined in claim. 9 combined with a springlatch adapted to grasp said reciprocable device when in-its position ofrest, and yieldingly hold it in said position.

v.1,9ac,113

12. An apparatus'such as defined in claim 9 in which said reciprocabledevice is provided with a laterally projectinglug, combined with astationary yielding member having a surface inclined to the line ofreciprocation of said mem- 1 mechanism anchored relatively to saidguides,

and a connection from the movable member of said mechanism to saidstencil, together with a spring acting to return said stencil to itsinitial position after it is released by said printing members, andovercoming the resistance of said air-cushioning mechanism when soacting.

14. Acombination such as defined in claim 13 in which saidair-cushioning mechanism comprises a cylinder open to the air at one endbut closed at the other end with the exception of a small leakage port,and a piston in said cylinder having a piston rod projecting from saidcylinder, and in which the connection from such air cushioning mechanismto said stencil comprises a carrier for the latter provided with anupwardly projectinglug and a hook on the end of said piston rod adaptedto engage said lug.

15. A combination such as defined in claim 13 in which said aircushioning mechanism comprises a cylinder .open to the air at one endbut closed at theother end withthe exception of a small leakage port,and a piston in said cylinder having a piston rod' projecting from saidcylinder, and in which the connection from such air cushioning mechanismtosaid stencil comprises a carrier for thelatter and a flexible linkagebetween said carrier and piston rod, said cylinder being pivoted on oneof said guides.

16. An apparatus such as defined in claim 13 in which said aircushioning mechanism comprises a cylinder pivoted on one of said guidesand open to the air at one end but closed at the other end with theexception of a small leakage port, and a piston in said cylinder havinga piston rod projecting from said cylinder; and in which the connectionfrom such air cushioning mechanism to said stencil comprises a carrierfor the latter provided with an upwardly projecting lug, and a hook onthe end of said piston rod adapted to engage said lug, combined with aspring normally tending to swing said hoo toward said lug.

1'7. In a rotary printing apparatus comprising a pair of revolubleprinting members, one of which is cut away along an arc of its surface,means for revolving said members in opposite directions, a stencil, andguides along which said stencil may be reciprocated between saidmembers, the combination, with said above described apparatus of areciprocable device, means for confining the reciprocation of saiddevice to a line substantially parallel to said .guides, mechanism forcausing said device to when said stencil is at rest.

18. In a rotaryprinting apparatus comprising a pair of revolubleprinting members, one of which is cut away along an arc of its surface,means for revolving said members in opposite directions, a stencil, andguides along which said stencil may be reciprocated between saidmembers, the combination, with said above described apparatus of latchmechanism acting to yieldingly hold said stencil in the positionoccupied by it when at rest and spring means acting to return it to saidposition whenever released by said printing members.

HARMON P. ELLIOTT.

